


Of Men and Monsters

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, F/M, Human Experimentation, Hurt Erik Lehnsherr, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, POV Erik Lehnsherr, X-Men: First Class Fix It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23030926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Erik thought he understood Schmidt, and the path of his life. Just pain, and fear, and hopelessness. And then Schimdt had brought him Emma, and he'd realised there was more to the world than he could have known. He wasn't alone any more. And he and Emma would change everything.
Relationships: Emma Frost/Erik Lehnsherr, Emma Frost/Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 9
Kudos: 16
Collections: X-Men Rare Pairs 2020





	Of Men and Monsters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InsertSthMeaningful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertSthMeaningful/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [InsertSthMeaningful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertSthMeaningful/pseuds/InsertSthMeaningful) in the [xmenrarepairs20](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/xmenrarepairs20) collection. 



> Pay attention to the warnings. Emma and Erik are in a sexual relationship, and consider each other as siblings.
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> So what if Frost joined Shaw before Erik's escape and the two poor abused mutant kids grew up together? And escaped together? And kinda loved each other like siblings but also like lovers?  
> Let them meet Charles together, let them desire him together. Let them kill Shaw together. And please give the three of them a happy ending.

"I've got a special present for you today," the doctor told him, and Erik felt his blood run cold. There had never been anything good that had happened following those words, he knew that. Those words would only lead to pain, new tests, new tortures. 

Erik wondered if the doctor lay awake at night, designing more torments to force upon him. He feared he knew the answer. And the way he smiled - no, nothing good would be coming from this gift.

In the time that Erik had known the doctor, he thought he had come to have a good understanding of the other man and his cruelties. But it turned out that Schmidt could still surprise him, could still find new ways of bringing out emotion.

Because in the lab that day, there was the statue of a little girl, carved of glass. She looked a few years younger than him, maybe nine or ten to his eleven. She had been frozen in a pose of abject sorrow, her knees drawn to her chest. He frowned, stepping towards her.

The statue lifted her head, and Erik nearly screamed. He heard Schmidt laugh.  
"She's exquisite, isn't she? This is Emma. She's a freak, just like you. My latest project. See if you can get her to turn back to human, I need to talk to the guards..." He paused in the doorway. "Do you want her as your responsibility Erik? You'll have to answer for her mistakes." 

He stared at the child, who was gazing at him with such fear, and thought of how alone he'd been when he'd first arrived. Mind made up, he nodded. He had been afraid, and alone, and he would make sure that she wasn’t. He reached out, his fingers twisting with hers. She looked up at him, and carefully, she smiled.

***

He never would have escaped without Emma.

 _Exactly,_ her voice sounded in his mind, teasing him, full of laughter the way that it always was. _You’re lucky I’m here._

 _I know that I am._ he answered. The mental link between them was constant now. There was no need for him to be alone, for either of them to be alone. There was just a constant passing of thoughts, all the time that she was in human form. Sometimes, she turned to diamond, and he felt her absence like a gaping wound. But she did it less now, choosing his companionship over crystal isolation. He didn’t know what that said about who they were, but he flattered himself that it meant he was good. That there was some good in them.

Emma had learned at Schmidt’s hand, like he had. She could control her powers, project stunning illusions, make people believe what she wished. He was glad for that - he didn’t want to think what would have happened if she couldn’t, what problems she would have faced. The two of them held onto each other when they could, and this… this was a plan that had been years in the making.

She had worked hard, tangling in the idea of her abilities, making sure the guards believed her only skill was the ability to appear as a diamond. As that continued, she had worked on projecting visions of herself, and of Erik. She’d managed to spare him some of Schmidt’s tortures. He’d developed the paths they would need, and the weapons, and held her close as she had created careful illusions in the minds of the guards. Until they would be convinced they could still see the two of them curled up together on the floor, when in reality they were far away.

Erik knew they might have caused damage to the guards minds. He didn’t particularly care, not when it meant that they would both be free. Because Emma mattered to him, more than anything else in the world. It was just him and Emma, brother and sister and something more than that, hiding and sharing secrets and forming a family in their own private hell.

She was weak with hunger, and had a nasty cut on her leg. Using her diamond form so she didn’t bleed, she leaned against him, and the two of them made their way between the buildings.

She sought out any minds that might have seen them, putting them to rest. He used the metal he had at his command to kill anyone who still posed a danger.

They reached the barbed wire fence, and a door opened up in it, big enough for the two of them. They scrambled through. He didn’t close the hole behind him. 

They ran, as fast and as far as their beaten bodies could, and then they found a hollow tree to take shelter in. He wrapped his arms around her as she faded back to human, rubbed his hands over her back as she sobbed. They were together. 

They were free.

He started to laugh, and she joined in, their laughter echoing around the still forest. It had been too long since he had last laughed. She turned to him, her blue eyes sparkling, and she leaned closer. She pressed her lips against his.  
“We’re free.” She whispered.

He nodded, and kissed her again, his heart soaring.

***

The first few years after their escape, they had focused on hiding, living in fear that Schmidt would come for them. They changed names and identities dozens of times, but they always came back to this. 

Emma spent most of her time in diamond form. She’d sit with him in hotel rooms, running her fingers over his tattoo, and he’d brush his thumb over the number engraved on her diamond arm, or the tattoo if she was in human form.

The two of them would curl up every night in each other’s arms, their thoughts merging. Erik had grown tired of running, but he didn’t want to say, didn’t want to frighten Emma.

She reached out and squeezed his hand.  
“He needs to pay for what he’s done to us.” She told him, flicking into soft skin and golden hair. He leaned forwards to kiss her, and she shoved him down onto the bed, straddling him fiercely. His hands rested on her hips, and they moved as one, sharing the same idea.

They weren’t running any more. The man who had done this to them was going to pay, was going to come to realise the monsters that he created.

Afterwards, he leaned up and kissed her, his fingers running through her hair once more. She looked as beautiful as ever, glancing over her shoulder as she reached the bathroom door. She beckoned him. He rolled his eyes and followed her, pulling her close.

“Insatiable,” he teased, and she nodded unashamedly. 

_Need to make the most of you before you get distracted by our hunt._ She pressed soft kisses to his neck, and he smirked.

***

They’d found the yacht, and Emma was hiding them as they approached. They’d agreed on a plan. They hadn’t factored in the idea that he would have people working for him now, others of their kind that were there, apparently of their own volition. They’d been thrown away by gusts of wind which were now circling the ship. Emma was treading water on the surface, having to concentrate on not drowning, and trying to pick up Schmidt’s mind under the water.

“He’s diving.” She gasped, and Erik sunk his powers beneath the waves, reaching for the submarine, gripping onto it. The metal pulled him deeper, but he didn’t want to let go, diving down under the surface until his lungs screamed.

 _You can't. You'll drown. You have to let go. I know what this means to you, but you're going to die. Please, Erik, calm your mind. She needs you._ A male voice spoke, so different from Emma’s own, and then he was pulled back against a man, found himself lifted up through the water as Schmidt slipped through his fingertips.

The two of them resurfaced, and Emma immediately swum to his side, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close, pressing her forehead against his as she transferred the information she had gained.

Their rescuer was called Charles. A telepath, like her, but more powerful. 

_It’s rather rude to talk about a gentleman without inviting him, you know._ The new man told them. Emma raised an eyebrow.

Erik turned, looking at the other man, and smirked. Beside him, he felt Emma smile as well.

***

Training was ...fun. It wasn’t a word he ever would have associated with the idea of learning. But he enjoyed it, knew Emma enjoyed it as well. She tested her powers against Charles, as he worked on his finesse and strength. Others joined them. But it was always him and her, brother and sister. They shared a bedroom, holding onto each other at night when their dreams got too loud to breathe. It helped, to have her in his arms, to lose himself in the softness of her body.

They were happy, together. Happier than they’d ever been, helping Charles to track down their own kind. 

He thought Charles beautiful. Emma thought him handsome. He captivated both of them but there was no competition there, no question over who would have him when the answer was so clear. They’d found him together. He would belong to both of them.

 _What if I don’t want to belong to you both._ Charles asked. There was a hint of amusement in his voice, making it clear he didn't mind.

"Sugar," Emma looked up from where she was lounging across Erik's lap. "I'm a telepath. I know all your little secret desires, and I can promise you that you don't mind that thought at all."

Charles had blushed into his teacup, which was rather endearing, and that was the end of that. He was theirs. 

They went to his room that night, together, holding hands the way they had when they were children. Erik knew he'd seen their pasts, but if Emma could handle someone knowing, he could as well. 

It was Charles who answered in his mind.  
_I think you're brave._

He had never felt brave as a child, only afraid and far too young. But he was willing to accept the compliment, at least. They continued to train.

***

Emma told him that Charles knew they would kill Schmidt. The attack on their children only proved the man could not be permitted to live another second. Charles was reluctant, but he agreed not to stop them.

They planned it together. Charles would deal with Schmidt's lackeys, and Erik and Emma would work together to bring him down. He pinned Erik, expecting him defeated, when Emma hat taken her chance, frozen him as soon as Erik dropped the helmet to the floor.

The coin flew through the air, embedded into his skull, and Erik crushed the helmet to dust. No one was allowed to block out Emma, or Charles. Not when it was so natural to them to exercise their gift. Such silence would be torture.

The ships fired, and Erik gripped the weapons, full of anger at the humans. Emma and Charles fought for control of him. 

Moira fired towards Erik.

Emma moved Charles into the bullet's path, a split second decision that would haunt her forever. 

Erik understood. 

In that moment, she'd feared losing him. She couldn't deflect the bullet. She could only put something between it and its target. It had always been the two of them. He loved Charles, and so did she, but they shared a soul. They couldn't be apart.

They sat with Charles, on the beach, holding his hands. His mind twisted with theirs, filled with pain and fear, but still hope. They knew he understood.  
_Don't leave me._

"We won't." Erik promised, as Emma soothed his mind. The teleporter took them to a hospital.

***

Erik fashioned a wheelchair for Charles, one that was light and stable, and he spent days poring over the designs, wanting it to be perfect. Emma read to him. They spent time helping him with his exercises, Emma ruthless, Erik firm. He grew stronger.

His legs wouldn't work again. Emma took Moira's memories of what had happened, and the three of them set about planning a school. Somewhere that their kind would flourish, never knowing pain. 

Emma held Charles when he cried, when he told Erik about his own childhood. Their memories twisted together, a constant closeness, as though they were standing side by side no matter how far apart they were.

Emma was a manipulator, Charles a strategist, and Erik was raw power. They'd all seen their kind suffer. They all knew of monsters, and humans, and pain. But they also all knew joy, waking tangled beside their lovers, hiding in good memories when the pain burned too brightly. They knew gentleness, and they knew love.

Together, the three of them were going to change the world, and no mutant child would ever know the pain that they had once accepted as their birthright.

Not ever again.


End file.
